Table of contents:
- 1. The temple completely burned down … twice
- 2. Emperor Justinian reconstructed the temple
- 3. The temple changed its name several times
- 4. In 558, the dome had to be replaced
- 5. Hagia Sophia and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
- 6. Canon of Byzantine Art
- 7. Fight against idolatry and Hagia Sophia
- 8. Enrico Dandolo plundered Hagia Sophia
- 9. The Byzantine temple was a mosque for 500 years
- 10. Islamic elements in the temple
- 11. Byzantine mosaics were saved by Mehmed II
- 12. The healing power of the "Weeping" Column
- Kemal Ataturk turned Hagia Sophia into a museum
Video: From an Orthodox cathedral to a mosque and a museum: 12 little-known facts about Hagia Sophia
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The hallmark of Istanbul, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, is the Hagia Sophia Mosque, now turned into a museum. For a long time, more than 1000 years, it was the largest Christian church, until in 1926 St. Peter's Cathedral appeared in Rome.
1. The temple completely burned down … twice
This Orthodox church was founded in 330 in Constantinople by Emperor Constantine the Great, but 75 years later it was destroyed in a fire. In 415 the church was rebuilt, and in 532, during the popular uprising "Nika", it burned down again.
2. Emperor Justinian reconstructed the temple
Beginning in 527, Emperor Justinian ruled Constantinople for 38 years, who did a lot for the flourishing of Byzantium. By his order, five years after the Nika uprising, the church was rebuilt again.
3. The temple changed its name several times
During the Byzantine era, this Orthodox cathedral was called the Great Sophia because of its enormous size, or the Hagia Sophia. But after the capture of the capital of Byzantium in 1453 by the Turks, the cathedral was turned into an Ottoman mosque called Hagia Sophia. Today, it is the world famous museum of Byzantine architecture, Hagia Sophia, the most visited attraction not only in Istanbul, but throughout Turkey.
4. In 558, the dome had to be replaced
One of the decorations of the cathedral was the central dome 160 feet high and 131 feet in diameter, but it was destroyed in the 558 earthquake. The dome was restored in 562. It became even higher, and to strengthen it, several smaller domes were installed, as well as a gallery and four large arches.
5. Hagia Sophia and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Expensive building materials, as well as surviving fragments of ancient buildings, were brought to Constantinople from different parts of the empire. Thus, columns brought from the destroyed Temple of Artemis in Ephesus were used to strengthen and decorate the interior of the church.
6. Canon of Byzantine Art
In Byzantium, they tried to preserve the age-old Roman and Hellenistic traditions in art, architecture, and literature. The Byzantine ruler Justinian, leading a series of urban reconstruction projects after the Nika uprising, began with the Hagia Sophia. The new cathedral fully complied with the canons of the Byzantine style, it was luxurious and magnificent - a huge dome on a rectangular basilica, rich mosaics, stone inlays, marble columns, bronze doors. The cathedral fully complied with the canons of the Byzantine style.
7. Fight against idolatry and Hagia Sophia
During the period of the struggle against idolatry (approximately 726-787 and 815-843) the production and use of icons and religious images was prohibited, only the cross was allowed as the only acceptable symbol. In this regard, many mosaics and paintings in Hagia Sophia were destroyed by the iconoclasts, taken away or plastered over with plaster.
8. Enrico Dandolo plundered Hagia Sophia
During the fourth crusade against Byzantium, during the siege of Constantinople, the famous and influential 90-year-old doge of Venice, Enrico Dendolo, being blind, defeated Orthodox Christians. The city and the church were plundered, many gold mosaics were taken to Italy. Dendolo, after his death in 1205, was buried in Hagia Sophia.
9. The Byzantine temple was a mosque for 500 years
Centuries of conquests, sieges, raids, crusades led in 1453 to the fall of Constantinople under the onslaught of the Ottoman Empire. The city was renamed Istanbul, the Byzantine cathedral was subject to destruction, but Sultan Mehmed II, delighted with its beauty, ordered to convert the cathedral into a mosque.
10. Islamic elements in the temple
In order to use the church as a mosque, the sultan ordered the completion of a prayer hall, a pulpit-minbar for a preacher and a stone bath-font. Also, several minarets, a school, a kitchen, a library, mausoleums and the Sultan's box were attached to it.
11. Byzantine mosaics were saved by Mehmed II
Instead of destroying the numerous frescoes and mosaics on the walls of Hagia Sophia, Mehmed II ordered them to be plastered over with Islamic drawings and calligraphy on top. Subsequently, many of the original frescoes and mosaics were restored by the Swiss-Italian architects Gaspar and Giuseppe Fossati.
12. The healing power of the "Weeping" Column
The “Weeping” Column is located in the northwestern part of the church, to the left of the entrance, and is one of the 107 columns of the building. It is also called "the column of desires", "sweating", "wet". The column is covered with copper and has a hole in the middle that is damp to the touch. Many believers seek to touch her in search of divine healing.
BONUS
Kemal Ataturk turned Hagia Sophia into a museum
Former officer Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the first president and founder of the modern Turkish state, who has a rather cool attitude to religion, decided to organize a museum in the Hagia Sophia temple, and this was done in 1935.
It's hard to stay indifferent looking at 18 photos of Iranian mosque ceilings … It's just great!
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